


5+1

by ohmythief



Series: Alternative Lifes for Lapidot [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Bickering, Childhood Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Neighbors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23693542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmythief/pseuds/ohmythief
Summary: Five times they wielded the knife against each other, and one time they didn’t.Human AU where Lapis and Peridot met when they were little but didn’t quite like each other at first.
Relationships: Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Series: Alternative Lifes for Lapidot [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1698409
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	5+1

When Lapis Lazuli was 8 years old she was playing tag with her friends, laughing and getting their clothes dirty with mud.

  
  


It was raining badly, the sky threatening to fall on their heads but they couldn't care less. The small brunette was splashing in every puddle she could find and her mind wouldn't happen to imagine that at the very moment she stepped in her home (an scolding ready for her), her life would be turned upside down.

  
  
  


Her parents decided that they had to move out of the state for a new job. And for a little girl with friends around the corner, this was heartbreaking news. Her mother tried to console her but she ran and shut herself inside her room leaving the woman with nothing left but a wooden door on her nose. Lapis could hear clearly that her mother was mad and commanded her to pack her things, and that she had two days until they left.

  
  
  


Cue on time, and after crying her goodbyes she waved at her friends from the backseat of the car. Her mother asked her to sit down properly, and with that they went their way to a new place that Lapis would never call her home. She relied on her headphones through all the journey.

  
  
  


When the new house's shadow swallowed her, Lapis decided that she hated it. The end.

  
  
  


And even if her mother tried to convince her that the new place was great, and nothing better than a villa that had so many families and new friends... Lapis shut herself inside her new bedroom for the last weeks before she was dragged to her new school. Which, she already hated before she could give it a try.

  
  
  


The only times she got out was when her mother made her take out the trash, and she did reluctantly every time.

  
  
  


On one particular night she noticed a small head poking out of the next house's window. Whoever was her neighbour was certainly spying on her and it pissed her off like hell. They ducked her piercing eyes and hid beneath the frame of the window but Lapis could still see the blonde hair sticking up. 

  
  
  


With a scowl she hid herself behind the three and counted to ten. As she expected, when showing herself again she spotted the kid next door definitely look at her. They shrieked out of her sight and Lapis stomped the way inside to her own house, the trash forgotten beside the can (of course this only got her in problems but whatever, its not like they could send her to her room like she wouldn't be delighted to do so).

  
  
  


The next day she left a page glued on that same window scribbling her neighbour to stop being a creep. Later that day, a lady knocked on their door with a sobbing kid and begged to differ saying that Lapis was the one to bully her daughter. 

  
  
  


Lapis was grounded, her headphones taken. 

  
  
  


It was the time she began to draw.

  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  


They met again because destiny is like that, and of course the two girls went to the same school. 

  
  
  


Peridot avoided Lapis, which was not hard at all as she recluded herself from everyone.  _ What a loner,  _ she heard her group whispering mean things about Lapis. She repeated them, because of course her friends said the truth. She was the one with a large group of friends anyway, not Lapis. She was the real weirdo.

  
  
  


Still, they had to walk together everyday because they live next to each other and the path was straight down so they had no other choice. Both girls walked on the same road but not together, never together. 

  
  
  


Sometimes they could snarl back at each other, but that was it. They had no other interaction. 

  
  
  


Peridot was scared of Lapis, but she couldn't let the brunette know this. The girl was taller and her eyes were intimidating. But she had her friends to back her up, so it was okay.

  
  
  


It wasn't when they were alone and Peridot only had her tongue to protect herself.

  
  
  


On one of their trips home, Lapis looked at her and laughed "The nerd wears braces now" she said to the blonde girl with wicked intentions.

  
  
  


Peridot glared at her with a growl caught in her throat as she waved her fists in the air "And what about it?! You clod!"

  
  
  


"Wow Peridot, do you kiss your mom with that mouth?" the taller kid grinned and avoided the weak punch coming at her "I gotta tell your mom now, she won't be happy"

  
  
  


The brunette started jogging out of Peridot's rage as she followed her but the blonde's short legs didn't let her go as far as barely touching the other's back for a second.

  
  
  


This made their way back faster, and before they noticed it they had already reached their block.

  
  
  


"This is why you don't have friends, Lazuli!" Peridot ran towards her home, her face red and Lapis flinched not at her words, but at the loud sound of her door closing. Followed with a shy sorry, definitely directed at her mother.

  
  
  


That day, Lapis walked through the front of her house with a satisfied smile on her. Bothering her neighbour was her favorite sport.

  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  


Lapis hated math. She wasn’t good at it and this only buttered up the mean kids. 

  
  
  


And it was infuriating not because of whatever the others thought of her, she wasn’t going to let them get under her skin. But aside from that, Peridot was extremely good at math.

  
  
  


This bothered Lapis more than words could explain it. Sure, Peridot seemed full of herself exceeding at stupid math but they had this rivalry coming with the other subjects. And it’s only in this terrain that the shorter girl won her over and over again.

  
  
  


Sometimes Lapis wanted to punch her smug grin off her round face. And the only time she nearly did so, this only sent her to detention and a call to her home.

  
  
  


“Maybe if you didn’t waste your time with those meaningless things your head could work a little harder” she said with her arms crossed and looking disdainfully at Lapis from where she sat.

  
  
  


Even if they hated each other, their mothers were practically the best neighbors to one another and Lapis’s mother dared to ask Peridot’s help on stupid math from her mom. And she didn’t refuse, on the contrary the was smug about it. Just like her daughter.

  
  
  


Lapis looked up from her book and noticed that the blonde was staring at her wall covered with drawings and cutouts collages. 

  
  


“Shut up, nerd” she deadpanned and returned to her book “If you don’t like, then don’t see”

  
  
  
  


“It’s not that, it’s just useless. This doesn’t accomplish anything”

  
  
  


“Oh, so you do like it?”

  
  
  


“S-Shut up!”

  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  


Peridot looked at the girl next to her with fear. She was taller and well known in their school, and everyone was scared of arguing or contradicting her in anything she did or said.

  
  
  


The big girl stared at her, her shoulders tense as she expected Peridot’s next words to please her entirely. She gritted her teeth and her fists on either side threatened Peridot. 

  
  
  


“Yes, it was Lapis’s fault” she finally said with a low whisper, avoiding the hurt gaze of Lapis from the other side of the classroom.

  
  
  


She attempted to reach her, calling out her name but they atopped her “Lapis, that’s enough” said sternly their teacher and grabbed said girl’s shoulder dragging her out. 

  
  
  


“Well done Peridot” said the other girl patting her on the back. She only nodded and watched her leave. 

  
  
  


She was just backing her friend up, there was nothing wrong. Right?

  
  
  


So why did she feel like her heart dropped when she heard her name sprouting out of Lapis’s mouth. It stung her, even more as she made her way back home alone.

  
  
  


The next day when she knocked at the brunette’s home intending to meet for homework, her mother said that she was sick and it only made her feel worse.

  
  
  


Because she knew Lapis was avoiding her.

  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  


Lapis would seem like the person who loved the rain and in another parallel universe that could be true.

  
  
  


But the Lapis that filled her wet boots right then right there hated the rain and would punch the sky only if it was possible. But it was not, so she walked towards her dorms with the sky falling on her head.

  
  
  


She tried to make herself smaller inside her hoodie, trying to find some warmth left and shelter herself from the pouring sky some more. But to no avail.

  
  
  


Knowing that she was risking catching an ugly cold, her mind raced with all the final exams she would fail and the imminent threat of repeating the semester. 

  
  
  


Shielding her face with her hand hung high she noticed a coffee shop still open and ran towards it only to find that they were indeed closing their doors. This hit Lapis, acknowledging how late it surely was and she really should be walking faster because her bones were getting drenched.

  
  
  


Hugging her bag closer inside the hoddie, she sprunt towards the path she has known for years but someone got in the way, crashing onto her 

  
  
  


“Hey, watch where you are goin-“

  
  
  


Her breath hitched as she stared at a pair of foggy glasses that she knew all to well “Lazuli” she cried in the middle of the rain, not particularly happy to see her neighbor from long ago again.

  
  
  


Lighting broke the sky behind them, making both girls jump. 

  
  
  


It was definitely not the time for a reunion.

  
  
  


Lapis scanned the area wildly, looking for some real shelter and spotted her best bet. 

  
  
  


“H-Hey, let me go!” Peridot tried to get her hands off her arm, but Lapis grabbed her tightly and pulled her to the bar close to them. Given the place, it was supposed to stay open for the next hours. 

  
  
  


And it seemed like the best call she could make because at the time they stepped inside, the windbecame even more enraged with random things flying everywhere and the trees being shaken wildly. 

  
  
  


She definitely hated the rain.

  
  
  


Sighing, she noted the girl still smaller than her freeing herself from her dampened sweater. Her disgust evident in her face.

  
  
  


“What a lowsy place. You couldn’t choose something better, Lazuli?” she snarled at her.

  
  
  


“Well, if you don’t like it you can leave” Lapis shrugged, her hand offering the view outside as an umbrella passed by the window.

  
  
  


She didn’t answer.

  
  
  


They sat together in silence at the bar with Peridot staring out of the window and Lapis tapping the counter with her fingers.

  
  
  


She noticed that by each tap, Peridot’s shoulders jumped and that’s how she learned that it bothered her. Of course she kept going.

  
  
  


The taller girl watched expectantly the girl next to her, waiting Peridot to snap any moment. But at the given time she just stood up and walked away, sitting on a table next to the trembling windows.

  
  
  


This only angered Lapis. She threw the stool to the side and walked the distance between them with each step more heavier than the last.

  
  
  


With her hand, she slapped the table and Peridot jumped on her chair now staring confused at Lapis “Seriously, Peridot?” her voice was deep and dark, her glare fierce and… sad.

  
  
  


“What do you want, Lazuli?” the blonde frowned, her throat burning and maintaining Lapis’s smoldering gaze misty eyed. This only unnerved the taller girl even more.

  
  
  


But she couldn’t find words. She just wanted…

  
  
  


She didn’t know what she wanted.

  
  
  


And just like old times, Peridot found the correct words to piss her off “It seems that not even dying your hair blue made you belong in a career like graphic design” she said with intended venom in her voice and crossed her arms “Pathetic”

  
  
  


Lapis maybe wanted to punch her a little, but her heart fluttered instead for some reason. She bit her lip caging a bark of laughter, and sat on the chair in front of the blonde girl “Oh, so you know the drill”

  
  
  


She looked at her, wrinkling her nose “What do you mean?”

  
  
  


“You know, for one still being a stalker and now understanding the jokes of graphic design… The usual” she laid back, relaxing and scanning the girl with half lidded eyes waiting for the bomb to explode.

  
  
  


Her face flushed, skin red as a cherry as she abruptly got up hitting the table with her hands “I-I’m not a stalker, clod!”

  
  
  


“Keep telling yourself that, nerd”

  
  
  
  


-

  
  
  
  


Peridot was right on something valuable. 

  
  
  


Lapis didn’t belong in graphic design, she was definitely an art gal. And this enlightenment she held dearly in her heart as she retrieved her diploma as an art major.

  
  
  


Sure, the realization made her lose a couple of years morebut she was happy now. 

  
  
  
  


And blissfully living as a landscape artist in her small but cozy apartment with her orange cat, she knew she has made the right choice.

  
  
  


Walking to her favorite coffee she spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair. She only saw her back at first, but a small turn of her head confirmed Lapis the identity of said person.

  
  
  


Taking advantage of this, she close the space between them and scared the girl with a click of her tongue right beside her ear. 

  
  
  


With a loud screech, Peridot nearly fainted as she stepped aside and Lapis finally watched her face, convinced of something.

  
  
  


Peridot was crying.

  
  
  


Not right now, but the dark circles beneath her eyes brought up the speculation that the girl hasn’t been sleeping well, and her red eyes told the story of someone crying until sunrise.

  
  
  
  


That’s how they ended at Lapis’s home with two teacups on the table and a purring cat on Peridot’s lap.

  
  
  


“She likes you” Lapis smiled, small but warm.

  
  
  


“Why wouldn’t she?”

  
  
  


Lapis chuckled, covering behind her hand but at the same time, she noticed that Peridot’s voice wasn’t laced with the usual vanity. 

  
  
  


It sounded restrained, tired. 

  
  
  


“Hey nerd” she whispered and Peridot nodded in response “What’s wrong?”

  
  
  


Pumpkin (her cat) started growling at the sudden lack of petting as Peridot has stopped completely at the weight of Lapis’s question.

  
  
  


Her owner ushered herto play somewhere else as she sat beside the small girl, her hand soothing her back slowly. 

  
  
  


“Peri, you seem tired. Do you want to sleep?” 

  
  
  


She looked up, her glasses askew. Lapis slowly grabbed them, carefully leaving those on the table and helped Peridot to her bed. 

  
  
  


She settled the blonde beneath the covers and silently sat for a while looking at her peaceful face. Peridot has closed her eyes and her breaths evened out.

  
  
  


Lapis has never seen her like this. Her… former neighbor has always been so strong, loud and impossible to break. She was smart, bubbly, annoying, bright and so beautiful. 

  
  
  


Her face turned a dark shade of red as she remembered one of those particular days where Peridot slept over and Lapis tried to teach her how to draw. But it was useless, the nerd was too bad at it. 

  
  
  


They stayed until really late that night, making fun of each other and snickering inside their pillow fort. It wasn’t until Peridot’s frustrated yell reached her parents’ bedroom and her mother came to scold them. 

  
  
  


She smiled reminiscing all the good and bad times they had together. No hard feelings for when they were just kids.

  
  
  


As she was standing up, a hand pulled her wrist down. She stared down at the pleading green eyes that contemplated her “Stay” 

  
  
  


Lapis’s breath stopped but she took her best effort to hide it “Sure, nerd. Move over”

  
  
  


The sound of the shuffling sheets filled the room and Lapis laid on her side just like Peridot was doing, now facing each other. She was thankful that there wasn’t any conversation going on because the loud throbs of her heart obstructed her audition. 

  
  
  


She saw as Peridot closed her eyes again but noticed by the quickering move beneath her dropped eyelids that she was nervous and wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon.

  
  
  


The daylight sneaking through the curtains reflected on her freckled skin revealing a vivid blush. Lapis’s heart jumped, leaping towards her sleeve.

  
  
  


She dared to trace Peridot’s nose with the tip of her finger, moving along her eyebrow and down her side towards her cheek. Along her jawline and hanging beneath her lips. 

  
  
  


Peridot was shaking when she felt a change of balance in the bed and slightly jolted when Lapis’s warm lips touched her forehead. 

  
  
  


When the taller girl retreated to her original position she found Peridot’s misty eyed and staring at her

  
  
  


Worry gnawed her “Sorry Peridot, was that wrong?”

  
  
  


Peridot sighed loudly with her eyebrows nearly knitted together “My life is a mess” she finally said. Her voice back to her normal tone, sounding more annoyed than anything. 

  
  
  


“Wow, you’re welcome I guess…” 

  
  
  


“It’s not that, Lapis…” she finally called her by her first name, that made the mentioned girl smile “To be brief, I lost my enough-paying job and now I’m in a bit of dispair regarding my college fee” 

  
  
  


“...I thought your mom paid your expenses?” Lapis knew it was her own fault for assuming, honestly. But it still took her by surprise.

  
  
  


Peridot groaned at the sound of the word mom, “She did, when she was mysteriously convinced that I wanted to be a doctor”

  
  
  


Lapis started drawing circles on Peridot’s hand with her thumb “What did you want?”

  
  
  


“She was disappointed when I told her I wanted to be an electric engineer”

  
  
  


“But… that’s not surprising, at all” they chuckled for a short while and it did wonders on their hearts “How did you lose your job, though?” 

  
  
  


“I kind of… called my boss a clod” Peridot wore a pained expression, embarrassment apparent from remembering that time.

  
  
  


“Well, I bet theydidn’t like it one bit”

  
  
  


“It was a retail job anyway, the boss was insufferable. Remember the big cheeto girl back in school? Precisely like her, sort of”

  
  
  


“Well, I’m certain she deserved it” Lapis’s smile reached her eyes as her free hand tried to release the tension on Peridot’s forehead “You will find another job soon, you will see”

  
  
  


Peridot turned on the bed, her back flat against the mattress. She stared at the ceiling and shrugged “I don’t doubt that,” Lapis rolled her eyes “But I will have to wait until, so that means making a pause on college and sadly focus on surviving with low expenses”

  
  
  


The words blurted out of her mouth before she could think it through “Live with me”

  
  
  


A flabbergasted expression plastered on Peridot’s face as she stared at Lapis. Said girl reflected the same wide eyed state as her mind fumbled with whatever she could say to fix this. 

  
  
  


“I-I mean… You can sleep here while you look for a job? I just don’t want you to… You know…” Lapis sat up, looking at her side as her hand gestured wildly in the air trying to get her point across. 

  
  
  


“Um, okay” a tiny voice rattled in her skull.

  
  
  


“Okay?” she propped one knee on the bed, the rest of her body hovering over it as she looked at Peridot dumbfounded

  
  
  


The blonde sat up with a jolt and started fidgeting with her fingers “I agree?”

  
  
  


Lapis snorted “Are you asking me?”

  
  
  


“N-No! I mean-“ she gulped and closed her eyes tightly grabbing the sheets with her fists on her lap “I will gladly take your offer, if that’s okay with you”

  
  
  


A wide grin found its way of the taller girl. Without giving chance for a second thought, she jumped from her stance and hugged Peridot pinning her back to the bed. 

  
  
  


Lapis laughed with Peridot’s purposely weak attempts at freeing herself. They rolled around for a while making a mess of the bed but when they finally stopped they were both out of breath and Lapis’s hands were holding Peridot’s down.

  
  
  


They stared at each other’s eyes, their chests nearly imploding and the world feeling dizzy and heavy. 

  
  
  


Lapis hovered above Peridot and memorized the sight before her, the blush creeping on the girl’s face highlighting the hue of her green eyes.

  
  
  


Her heart stopped as she closed her eyes and trailed slowly the path down with her breath caught in her throat.

  
  
  


Peridot shivered below her as their lips found each other. 

  
  
  
  


And it was all they had dreamed before, and more.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m taking a short break from my other long fic and thought of this one shot that is just fluff (and a tiny bit of angst). I have always seen Peridot as a really strong character because no matter what, she was tiny and ready to bite back. She grew on me and I like to think of those time where she also breaks like anyone else. 
> 
> I’m sad that I wasn’t present in the beginnings of her character as I joined the fandom quite late. It must have been amazing seeing her evolve in real time.
> 
> At last I enjoyed the SUF episode of her and Steven, i was overjoyed then (and now, always).
> 
> Sorry, for being a big softie. This was basically self indulgent. I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
